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Boulder County commissioners seek comments about RTD board candidates

Public will get opportunity to quiz candidates

By John FryarLongmont Times-Call

Posted:
01/26/2013 05:38:02 PM MST

Updated:
01/26/2013 05:38:54 PM MST

BOULDER -- Residents of Boulder County represented by the District O seat on the Regional Transportation District board will get the chance Monday to quiz the candidates for that post about the services the transit agency provides and any improvements those candidates would like to see.

The five semifinalists for the position -- Kai Abelkis of Niwot, Spense Havlick of Boulder, Susan Osborne of Bolder, Charles Sisk of Louisville and Mary Young of Boulder -- will appear at a Monday night public forum hosted by the Boulder County commissioners.

The commissioners will be appointing one of the five to fill an seat being vacated by John Tayer, who's resigning from the RTD board. The person appointed can serve at least through November 2014, when the District O seat will be up for election.

The forum is set for 5 p.m. Monday in the commissioners' Boulder County Courthouse third-floor hearing room, 1325 Pearl St., Boulder.

Each of the five applicants for the District O seat will be given five minutes to tell why he or she is interested in and qualified for serving on the RTD board. After each applicant's presentation, the forum audience will be given 15 minutes to question that candidate.

Boulder County commissioners will attend the forum, but don't plan on asking their own questions, according to the commissioners' staff. Instead, the commissioners may narrow the field further and interview the remaining finalists before casting an official Feb. 5 vote.

The commissioners also are inviting people's written observations about the RTD board applicants. Comment cards will be available at Monday's forum. People can email comments to Michelle Krezek, the commissioners' deputy, at mkrezek@bouldercounty.org. People should write "RTD Comments" in the email's subject line and submit them by 7 p.m. Tuesday.

The RTD's District O board post represents an area that includes Boulder, Louisville, Superior, Lyons, Hygiene, Niwot and Gunbarrel, as well as parts of the city of Longmont lying southwest of Mountain View Avenue and Hover Street.

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